Arthur MacMurrough Kavanagh : 1831-1889

Arthur was born at Borris House,
Co. Carlow, on 25 March 1831, the third son of Thomas Kavanagh
(1767-1837), by his second wife, Lady Harriet Margaret Le Poer Trench,
daughter of Richard, second earl of Clancarty. His father was M.P. for
Kilkenny in the last Irish parliament, and for Co. Carlow in the last
two parliaments (of the United Kingdom) under George IV, and the first
parliament under William IV.

His family traced its descent to the kings of Leinster. Born with only the
rudiments of arms and legs, Arthur nevertheless, by indomitable
resolution and perseverance, triumphed over his physical defects, and
learned to do almost all that the normal man can do, better than most
men. Though in general carried on the back of his servant, he had a
mechanical chair so contrived that he was able to move about the room
without even this assistance.

His chest was broad, but he could make the stumps of his arms meet across
it, and by long practice he made the stumps themselves so supple,
strong, and nervous, that with the reins round them he could manage a
horse as well as if he had them between his fingers, and even make good
use of a whip. In riding he was strapped on a chair saddle, and though
thus exposed to the gravest risks in the event of his horse falling or
breaking his girths, rode to hounds and took fences and walls as boldly
as any in the field.

He was also an expert angler, fishing from a boat or from horseback, and
supplying the want of wrist-play by dexterous jerks of the stumps of his
arms. Nor did his practical dexterity end here. He contrived to shoot,
and shoot well, both in cover and the open, carrying a gun without a
trigger-guard, resting the piece upon his left arm-stump, and jerking
the trigger with his right. He also became a fair amateur draughtsman
and painter, and wrote more legibly than many who suffer from no
physical defect.

Arthur was educated under private tutors at Celbridge, co. Kildare, and with
his mother at St. Germain-en-Laye, and at Rome. He also travelled with
his mother and his tutor, the Rev. David Wood, in Egypt, ascending the
Nile as far as the third cataract, and in Asia Minor, visiting Sinai,
Jerusalem, and Beyrout, in 1846-8.

On his return to Ireland in 1848 Arthur acted as a volunteer scout during
Smith O'Brien's rebellion, riding sometimes many miles unattended in the dead of night.

During 1849-1851 he travelled with his eldest brother, Thomas, and his tutor to
India by way of Russia and Persia. Tabriz was reached without notable
adventure in November 1849, and the party were introduced to a Persian
prince, Malichus Mirza. Arthur fell dangerously ill in December, and
was nursed in the prince's harem. On his recovery the travellers crossed
Lake Urumiah, and rode through difficult country and blinding sleet and
snow to Mosul, passing on the way the scene of the recent murder of
Stoddart and Conolly and recovering the latter's prayer-book.

Thence, after visiting Nineveh, they voyaged by raft down the Tigris to Bagdad,
inspected the remains of the Tower of Babel, and rode by a perilous pass
to Shiraz. On the way Arthur, dizzy with fever, saw the mule in front
of him tumble headlong over the precipice, and was only saved from the
same fate by the strength of his nerve.

At Shiraz he visited the tombs of the poets Sadi and Hafiz, and returned by
Ispahan to Teheran, 26 June 1850. Thence a long and intensely hot march
brought them to Bushire, where they took ship for Bombay, arriving there
on 5 Jan. 1851. Arthur now had some experience of tiger-hunting, in
which he acquitted himself brilliantly.

In December his brother, attacked by consumption, left India for Australia.
He died on the voyage, and Arthur, who had remained behind, was for a
time in want of money, and maintained himself by carrying despatches in
the Aurungabad district. He afterwards obtained a post in the survey
department of the Poonah district, but returned to Ireland in 1853, and
succeeded to the family estates on the death of his brother Charles in
that year.

On 15 March 1855 he married his cousin, Frances Mary, only surviving
daughter of the Rev. Joseph Forde Leathley, rector of Termonfeckin, co.
Louth. Arthur was, by the admission of Sir Charles Russell, 'a
landlord of landlords.' He rebuilt in great part the villages of Borris
and Ballyragget, on plans drawn by himself, which won the Royal Dublin
Society's medal, and in other ways sought to promote the well-being of
his tenantry. In this he was ably seconded by his wife, who taught the
villagers floriculture and lace-making, the latter having been started
by his mother.

Arthur subsidised and managed the railway line from Borris to Bagnalstown until
it was taken over by the Great Southern and Western Railway. He was a
justice of the peace for the counties of Wexford, Kilkenny, and Carlow,
high sheriff of co. Kilkenny in 1856 and of co. Carlow in 1857, and a
member, and from 1862 chairman, of the board of guardians of the New
Ross poor-house, in which, though himself a strong protestant, he had a
chapel provided for the benefit of Roman catholic inmates, the first of
the kind in Ireland.

Daily he might be seen seated under an old oak in the courtyard of Borris
House, administering justice, adjusting differences, making up quarrels,
and even arranging marriages. Here, also, in the winter he distributed
beef and blankets among the poor. Arthur represented co. Wexford in
parliament from 1866 to 1868, and Co. Carlow from 1868 to 1880. During
the Fenian rising he fortified and provisioned Borris House for a siege,
and patrolled the country nightly as in 1848.

Arthur was a conservative, voted against the disestablishment of the Irish
church, and took an active part in its reorganisation upon a voluntary
basis. On the other hand, he supported the Land Bill of 1870. He spoke
seldom, but with great weight; his maiden speech decided the fate of the
Poor Law (Ireland) Amendment Bill of 1869. He supported the Peace
Preservation Bills of 1870 and 1875.

He lost his seat at the general election of 1880, even his own tenantry
voting against him; was appointed lord-lieutenant of co. Carlow, and sat
on the Bessborough commission. Dissenting from the report of his
colleagues, he drew up one of his own, in which the principal feature
was a proposal to extend the Bright clauses of the act of 1870.
Foreseeing the storm, he initiated the Irish Land Committee, of which he
became one of the honorary secretaries.

He was also an energetic member of the Property Defence Association, and
founded in 1883 the Land Corporation. In 1886 he was sworn of the Irish
privy council. Worn out by anxiety and overwork, he succumbed to an
attack of pneumonia at his town house, 19 Tedworth Square, Chelsea, on
Christmas day, 1889. He was buried in the ruined church on Ballycopigan,
a wooded hill in the demesne of Borris.

Arthur was an enthusiastic and experienced yachtsman, and published a very
lively account of a shooting cruise off the coast of Albania, entitled
'The Cruise of the R.Y.S. Eva,' Dublin, 1865, 8vo.